James Ramos (D-San Bernardino), the first Native American elected to the California State Assembly, addressed a gathering of Native American media and state workers ahead of the upcoming 2020 Census at a meeting in the governor’s conference room on April 4 (Photo:...

Public officials, community leaders, and ethnic media convened for a briefing on the Census in Clarkston, Georgia, on April 26, 2019. By Khalil Abdullah, Ethnic Media ServicesClarkston, GA – Inside the Clarkston Community Center, a 20-minute drive from downtown...

By Mark Hedin, Ethnic Media Services (Lea en español). California is welcoming newcomers every day, but some regions are growing fast enough to take political power away from slower-growing ones. In today’s California, the most-populous county, Los Angeles, with more...

Ethnic Media Services works to enhance the capacity of ethnic news outlets to inform and engage diverse audiences on broader public issues with the goal of building a more inclusive participatory democracy.

• Organizing professional training and fellowships for ethnic media reporters that expand their knowledge of key issues, connect them to sources and provide financial support for in-depth reporting.

• Coordinating social media and marketing campaigns that enable government agencies, foundations, nonprofits and public affairs firms to customize messaging that resonates with diverse audiences and expands ethnic media’s access to advertising revenue.

• Developing communications projects with underserved groups that deepen their engagement with and amplify their voice in the public realm.

Why
Ethnic
Media

Ethnic media are news outlets that serve audiences isolated by language, race, ethnicity and sexual identity from the wider society. A feature of America’s media landscape for centuries, they provide news, information, cohesion, identity and a collective advocacy voice.

“We wish to plead our own cause. Too long have others spoken for us,” proclaimed Freedom Journal, the first black newspaper in New York in 1824. It continues to define the qualities that make ethnic media a distinctive genre of journalism — a parallel universe of news.

Current
Focus
Areas

The 2020 Census:

Raising awareness of what’s at stake for immigrant and minority communities with the upcoming 2020 Census.

Immigrant Rights

Tracking the politics of immigration reform and its intersection with human and civil rights.

Consumer Fraud

Helping to build ethnic media’s capacity to report on scams in their communities.

Safe, Clean Water

Promoting awareness of LA County’s efforts to modernize its water management system.

Environment

Expanding ethnic media’s coverage on and about the environment — from sea level rise to wetlands reclamation.

Depression In Community Colleges

Developing a peer-to-peer messaging model to break the stigma of depression on community college campuses.

Voting Rights

Enlisting ethnic media as an advocacy voice to promote voting rights and shine a spotlight on voter repression.